Thrive or Nosedive

I see many problems or get emails about the same all the time, and in general they mostly due to this one thing...


Steve...

 

Liked the video ! . I have the opposite problem , living on the edge of the Mendip hills , a limestone outcrop.
Naturally my soil Ph is around 8 , so l need to adjust to grow things like spuds and raspberries.
Brassicas however grow beautifully , no problem .
Years ago l grew veg in an acidic soil area and always used calcified seaweed to balance the Ph.

 

We bought a Liquid ph test kit last year but it arrived with half the contents leaked out, though we were still able to get some soil readings.

Went for Liquids as a bit dubious about those low cost PH meters being any good and those Test Strips can be very hard to get a clear reading.
As Steve seems to swear by the Probes think we will be ordering one, as they are clearly so much eaiser to use.
Might just pop into TWE soon.

 

Seems the PH meter Steve uses is out of stock at TWE and its not a model readily available elsewhere.

Has anyone used either of these two basic types of ph meters that are popular on the usual sites, are they any good ?

 

Even those two shown seems to vary in price considerably, not sure if that just different sellers or if there are performance differences. Some need placing and leaving in the soil for 10 minutes according to some reviews.

Those yellow ones do seem more up to date but as to them being better ... ?

@Steve R mentions in the video that he has broken and purchased several ph meters but not sure if he means they were all the same model he shows or has tried different ones ?

 

The article in Loofah's post is worth a look.
You can get test papers for a narrower range and with more than one indicator on them, so you compare two colours with the chart for example these https://www.amazon.co.uk/DF-Special...6093&keywords=ph+paper&qid=1640589228&sr=8-22

This type of device is better than the metal probe type, but is less robust, needs calibration and I would ignore the second decimal place. https://www.amazon.co.uk/ANPETBEST-...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
Both of these would be best used in the kitchen where you can take some soil, shake with water allow to settle and then test the liquid above the soil.

 

I have tried an electric probe type PH tester and found it virtually useless. I found using litmus paper test kits easy to use and presumably accurate. You are not going to test that many times in a season so the hassle of using a paper test isn't too bad.

 

Seems rather a minefield, but the one thing common to them all is that you mix the soil sample with water.
However uk tap water often has a ph around 7.8 -8.0 ( permitted range 6.5 - 9.0) so surely that skews the readings, unless Deionised water is used.

 

@ricky101 good point on the water, unless you are in a soft water area (no scale) then deionised water should definitely be used.

 

When I was working I used to do soil pH tests using a BDH test kit. It used barium sulphate, pH indicator fluid and the soil sample mixed with distilled water in a test tube. These kits were, I believe, quite expensive but considered very accurate. I have been asked over the years to test some of the probe type testers but never found one that was anywhere near as accurate as the BDH kit.

Blackstart

 

I have never used any of these PH tester kits that you can get online or at a GC. Only something very similar as the above post

What is the accuracy of these test kits? what is the increments of the test? Some of these probes can have an accuracy of +/- 0.3 so if you test your soil and have a reading of 6, then it could actually be anywhere between 5.7 and 6.3

If accuracy is key, then, personally I would recommend a soil lab test.

 

@blackstart - seems you can still buy the BDH test kits but for just under £200 !

While seaching for that came across a farming forum asking the very same question about what ph testing devices to use and their same conclusions as us in this forum, though would have thought for their acreage a top end tester or a proper lab analysis would be worthwhile.

For our general needs, begin to wonder if a regular ( every 2 or 3 years ) application of lime around each garden would be just as or more effective than messing with 'meters' ... ?

 

I know my local soil is around neutral, dont see many Rhodos growing, but it is possible.

If I was adding large amounts of organic matter every year I would think that maybe a dressing of lime would be in order.
But as I dont/cant get hold of organic material in large quantities I dont bother.

I think whatever you add to your soil is only going to be altering it short term anyway.